Agatha Christie’s most celebrated character has returned to the Brighton stage for Black Coffee, her first play.

This is the only piece she wrote specifically for stage to feature moustachioed super-sleuth Hercule Poirot, who is being expertly played by Robert Powell until Saturday at the Theatre Royal. Powell’s Poirot is magnificently accented and creates an atmosphere of tense foreboding as he unravels a mystery that’s full of Christie’s signature plot twists.

The set is sumptuous, and the costumes are brilliantly styled, particularly for the skittish Lucia Amory, played by Olivia Mace. The lighting is also notably good, particularly in combination with the light fixtures on the set, which creates a natural and believeable feel to the evening.

The performance includes two ten-minute intervals, splitting the performance into three acts. This makes the passing of time in the story more feasible and by the end of the show the characters have developed from bright strangers into rounded individuals with an array of rational motives for murder.

The real star of the evening was Liza Goddard as Miss Caroline Amory, the deceased’s garrulous, gossiping sister, but the whole cast deserves commendation for this well-executed and polished performance.